The Conversation Between Jesus And The Gifts Of The Spirit

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By now the conversation has almost become a monologue, Nicodemus only interjecting to allow Jesus to launch into further thoughts, but from a slightly different direction!

Nicodemus is not only earth-bound; his way of thinking is governed by the material and external. The Law is about behaviour – what people do; the spirit is about the inner nature of thoughts and actions – it cannot be regulated as both the Law and religion have become.

Spirit and wind are closely aligned – the same word is used to translate both, so the image used by Jesus is picking up a nuance that is already well-known.

The teaching Jesus is giving is not empty speculation; it is rooted in experience - what has been seen and heard. We will be reminded again and again …show more content…

The realities of the spirit cannot be legislated for: mercy, compassion, love, generosity, joy, are at the heart of life at its greatest: they are beyond regulation, because they are not material or external. They are qualities which flow from the gift of the Spirit at baptism. (Other Christian writers speak of the ‘Gifts of the Spirit;’ the author here is content not to be so specific) Life in the kingdom will be infused with these …show more content…

It is the ‘heavenly’ things which are enduring and are the things about which Jesus is equipped to speak and give his evidence. The testimony he gives springs from his intimate knowledge of the Father and the Spirit, and he speaks with authority as no-one else can.

The climax of the conversation is still to come, but we are being gently led towards the understanding of Jesus which the author is at pains to share with us. We are to see Jesus as the Word, speaking of the things the Word knows from his own experience. Experience is the way we all come to know what is true – whether the truth belongs to our material world or the realm of Heaven, where Jesus comes from (‘Except the one who has come down from heaven – the Son of Man).

Throughout this Gospel, we are having testimony and evidence presented to us. The evidence is not only in words and deeds which were heard and witnessed; it also consists of the truth Jesus brings from his ‘dwelling in the Father’s presence’. These truths are eternal and unchanging. Even though we live two thousand years later, Jesus is still ‘The way, the Truth and The

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